Movable retaining wall for road building machines



Jan. 18, 1966 GUNTERT 3,229,600

MOVABLE RETAINING WALL FOR ROAD BUILDING MACHINES Filed June 24, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. .1.

INVENTOR. RONALD M. GUNTERT ATTORNEYS Jan. 18, 1966 R. M. GUNTERT MOVABLE RETAINING WALL FOR ROAD BUILDING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 24, 1963 INVENTOR. RONALD M. GUNTERT BY MM m ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 18, 1966 3,229,600 MOVABLE RETAINING WALL FOR ROAD BUILDING MACHINES Ronald M. Guntert, Stockton, Calif., assignor to Gunter-t & Zimmerman Const. Dim, Inc., Stockton, Califi, a

corporation of California Filed June 24, 1963, Ser. No. 290,022 Claims. (Cl. 94-44) This invention relates to material placement apparatus for road building machines or the like, and more particularly involves a novel system for retaining a settable material in advance of the machine, which material is consumed as by forming it into a road slab.

In brief, this invention comprises a movable front retaining Wall which automatically positions itself to accommodate various amounts of material deposited in front of a paving machine. The movable retainer wall is stabilized and supported at its ends upon ground engaging shoes, and is guided in its movement by a pair of hangers that slide along guide rails mounted to the machine. In operation, a material transporting vehicle may be backed against the movable wall while the paving machine is being advanced without injuring the slab that is being formed. Material, such as concrete, is then dumped behind the movable wall where it is confined in front of a main pan of the machine. The movable wall prevents forward running of the material while maintaining a desired level of concrete in front of the pan by its relative sliding action along the guide rails which may be mounted from side retaining walls.

The invention further contemplates a movable wall that is constructed with gates that are vertically adjustable for various operating conditions, and having bumper plates that are positioned for engagement by the wheels of a material carrying vehicle. Another item of importance is the provision of a spring loaded header assembly for side retainer walls which must maintain lateral confinement of the material in advance of the machines pan.

Therefore, a primary object of this invention is to provide apparatus for retaining material in advance of a road building machine or the like such that a vehicle may make a front end dump without injuring the surface of a slab that is being formed or detrimentally affecting the control of the machine and its operation.

Another object is to provide an apparatus of the kind described including a movable front retaining wall having vertically adjustable gates.

It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus of the kind described including a movable front retaining wall supported upon and stabilized by ground engaging shoes.

A further object is to provide apparatus of the kind described including a side retaining wall having a spring loaded adjustable header engageable with the subgrade.

A still further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of the kind described including a movable front retaining wall having hanger guides at either end thereof engageable with side rails that extend forwardly of the machine.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent in view of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings forming a part of this application and in which like parts are identified by like reference numerals throughout the same,

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section and side elevation of the front portion of a slip-form paving apparatus illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention and the manner in which freshly mixed concrete is placed within the confines of side retaining walls and a movable front retaining wall;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the movable wall and a section of side retaining walls, taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail and end elevation of the spring loaded header assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a slip-form paving machine 10 comprising a main pan 11, a supporting framework 12, a spreader car 13 having a hydraulic spreader blade 14, and a control console 15. A transverse vibrator tube 16 is mounted immediately in front of pan 11, and the machine as a whole is supported upon a pair of side tracks (not shown) which advances the machine at relatively slow speeds along a prepared road bed 17. The vertical position of pan 11 relative to the side tracks may be maintained or adjusted by a grade control apparatus such as disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,844,882.

This invention is more particularly directed to a novel system of retaining walls which permits freshly mixed concrete to be dumped directly upon road bed 17 in front of the advancing machine 10 (as from the bed 18 of a truck 19). Unless the concrete is confined in front of the machine, it will, of course, tend to run forward and away from the machine. This is especially true in View of the intense vibration of the concrete by the tube 16, which is employed to insure compaction and eliminate voids by making the concrete flow as a liquid. Although fixed retaining walls may be used where the concrete is first loaded into a hopper car and then dumped onto the roadbed, the same retaining system will not work where the fixed walls may be impacted by a dump truck. For, in the event of impact by a loading truck, the machine will be jarred and this will create a bump in the finished concrete.

Accordingly, the present invention teaches the use of a movable front wall member 20 that is supported upon ground engageable shoes 21 and 22 and is guided along a pair of side retaining walls 23 and 24, each side wall being mounted from the support structure 12 of machine 10. Wall 20 is provided with a pair of hangers 25 and 26 which ride along and are guided by the upper rails 27 of walls 23 and 24, respectively. With such an arrangement, trucks may be backed against the movable wall 20 without jarring the rest of the machine. After the concrete is dumped, wall 20 will move forwardly under the force of confined concrete until a load height is reached suitable for forming the slab. As the machine travels forward wall 20 remains stationary, while the rails 27 of walls 23 and 24 glide through hangers 25 and 26. When wall 20 approaches a position close to the machine, the supply of concrete is replenished by repeating the process. Machine 10 may actually comprise more than one wall 20, each extending transversely of the roadway and independently operable from the other. Since it is now common practice to lay two separate slabs simultaneously, and to interconnect those slabs with tie rods, a machine arrangement such as shown in FIG. 2 may be useful. A conventional rod inserting device 28 (shown only symbolically) may be supported between inside retairn'ng walls 24 of two different compartments. Concrete placed within the confines of either compartment is allowed to flow beneath the walls 24.

Outside retainer walls which are to prevent a lateral flow of concrete from the confiines of a compartment should be mounted closed to the roadbed. However, a fixed outside Wall member (such as wall 23) which does not yield vertically in the event of ground contact by an abnormally high subgrade might be impractical. For this reason, outside retainer wall 23 is provided with a 3 spring loaded header assembly 29. The details of this assembly are best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and .3.

A main support header .plate 30 is secured to the lower end of wall 23, and a ground engaging header plate 31 is mounted therefrom by a pair of guides 32 welded to a horizontal flange of plate 30. Guides 32 project through openings in the horizontal flange of plate 31, and a cotter pin 33 prevents a vertical withdrawal of the guides from the openings. Header assembly 29 further comprises leaf springs 34 disposed intermediate header plates 30 and 31, said springs being held to plate 30 by a bolt and .having spaced ends bearing against the top surface of plate 31. Thus, springs 34 urge plate 31 vertically downward into contact wiht the ground but are yieldable as to permit sliding movement of .plate 31 relative to header plate 30 in the event of an abnormally high subgrade.

Movable wall 20 is preferably constructed with vertically adjustable gates 36 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The wall essentially comprises a tubular pipe 37 that extends the full width of the wall between sides plates 38. A wall plate 39 is mounted to the lower side of pipe 37 and is appropriately curved for strength. In addition, a reinforcing plate 40 is provided along the lower edge of plate 39.

Gates 36 are mounted in a surface-to-surface contact with plate 39 by means of curved mounting guides 41, which are supported from pipe 37 by vertical angles bars 42. A pair of chains 43 secured to a flange of each gate 36 are used to adjustably suspend the gates from either hooks 44 or slotted openings 45 ina bumper plate 46. Plates 46 are provided along the front or forward side of the movable wall as an engagement for the wheels of vehicle 19. Although bumper plates 46 might be provided along the entire wall, they are unnecessary along that center portion which lies between the rear wheels of the vehicle. Bumper plates 46 are important as protection for the adjustable gates 36 and their related mounting structures.

Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the attached claims, and each of such changes is contempl t What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

.1. A paving machine comprising: apparatus for working paving material being placed; side walls extending forwardly from each side of said apparatus; a movable wall disposed transversely between and guided on said side walls in an .upright position to cooperate with said apparatus and said side walls to define an enclosed area; and means for supporting said movable wall in said upright position.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein said movable wall is guided on said side walls by means of hanger arms secured to said movable wall at each end thereof, said hanger arms engaging said side walls respectivelyin slidable relationship therewith.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said movable wall in said upright position includes a ground engaging shoe secured to said movable wall at each end thereof.

4. The machine of claim 1 wherein said movable wall includes at least one vertically adujstable gate.

5. A paving machine comprising: apparatus for working paving material being placed; side walls extending forwardly from each side of said working apparatus; a movable wall disposed transversely between and guided on said side walls in an upright position by means of hanger arms secured to said movable wall at each end thereof, said hanger arms engaging said side walls respectively in slidable relationship therewith to cooperate with said apparatus and said side walls to define an enclosed area; said movable wall including at least one vertically adjustable gate; and means for supporting said movable wall in said upright position including a ground engaging shoe secured to said movable wall at each end thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,197,878 4/ 1940 Robinson 9444 2,622,494 12/ 1952 Parson 9444 2,747,476 5/ 1956 Manuel 94-44 2,874,621 2/ 1959 Mentes 9446 3,035,499 5/ 1962 Domenighetti 9446 CHARLES E. OCONNELL, Primary Examiner,

JACQB L. NACKENOFF, Examiner. 

5. A PAVING MACHINE COMPRISING: APPARATUS FOR WORKING PAVING MATERIAL BEING PLACED; SIDE WALLS EXTENDING FORWARDLY FROM EACH SIDE OF SAID WORKING APPARATUS; A MOVABLE WALL DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY BETWEEN AND GUIDED ON SAID SIDE WALLS IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION BY MEANS OF HANGER ARMS SECURED TO SAID MOVABLE WALL AT EACH END THEREOF, SAID HANGER ARMS ENGAGING SAID SIDE WALLS RESPECTIVELY IN SLIDABLE RELATIONSHIP THEREWITH TO COOPERATE WITH SAID APPARATUS AND SAID SIDE WALLS TO DEFINE AN ENCLOSED AREA; SAID MOVABLE WALL INCLUDING AT LEAST ONE VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE GATE; AND MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID MOVABLE WALL IN SAID UPRIGHT POSITION INCLUDING A GROUND ENGAGING SHOE SECURED TO SAID MOVABLE WALL AT EACH END THEREOF. 